the discipline of freedomhttps://www.harinathpv.com
Notes on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Thinking and LifeMon, 12 Feb 2018 13:47:34 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.3https://www.harinathpv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-HPV-Logo-31-32x32.jpgthe discipline of freedomhttps://www.harinathpv.com
3232115404025Starting a Co-workng spacehttps://www.harinathpv.com/2018/02/12/starting-a-co-workng-space/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/02/12/starting-a-co-workng-space/#respondMon, 12 Feb 2018 13:47:34 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1126Co-working, as a term, moved away from being a verb to a noun.

Starting a Co-working space is both fascinating and capital rich. Inspiring people around you to achieve much more is the key attitude of a Co-working space operation. Over the last year or so, I noticed many Co-working spaces started sprouting up all over the country and all have the same vision – To create inspiring new workspaces. This, in fact, became my inspiration to what I do today.

To start a Co-working space, it is very important to identify key parameters and ensure you build a meaningful correlation between each of the points to ensure the Co-working space is successful. Let us look at a few of them:

Production factors
Co-working spaces which become successful and help incubate best ideas focus on two aspects – Service and Community.

For any Co-working space, providing the right service to its members is the first step to creating a meaningful organization. What are the components of Service? Relationship facilitation, Networking, Events, Community & Communication, Interior Design, Promotions, Alliances & Partnerships, Mentorship Programs, Device support.

Location
Identifying the right location becomes very important for the success of a Co-working space. If we consider India, in Tier 1 Cities, finding a parking spot is one of the major concerns and Co-working spaces struggle to provide ample parking largely due to the price of real estate. It is only natural to think out of the box and provide better ways of reaching the space instead of leaving this point un-attended.

Focus of Co-working space
Recently, ONECo.Work started a co-working space focusing on Blockchain startups. This kind of focus helps Startup’s / SME’s and other organizations who are evaluating co-working spaces identify the right ones for their teams. It also becomes easy for the Co-working space to ensure the right kind of environment is set up and their events become more meaningful to their members. It will also help members of the Co-working space to gain more mileage with other members.

Be Discoverable
It is understandable that after making a heavy investment in the real-estate and infrastructure for building the best Co-working space, it becomes tough for spaces to invest in marketing their offering. The key here is to make oneself discoverable. How to make oneself discoverable? There are many ways – Social Media marketing, listing oneself in aggregators, sponsoring events etc. To better the prospects, it is very important to identify the community you wish to serve and creating programs for the community will help strengthen your workplace.

Events
It is very important to organize the right kind of events to garner attention for members. Constant interaction mechanisms with members provide Co-working spaces the ability to pick the right kind of events for their space. Again, find right ways to make your events discoverable also helps co-working spaces find new people coming and exploring your space. Host events which attract the right kind of audience, for instance, HeadStart, Startup’s Club have monthly events in more than 25 cities across India. Invite them to host a few on your space/location.

Alliances & Partnerships
Why people are beginning to like Co-working spaces is because of the Cost Effectiveness and ability to interact with many others rather than sitting alone in a Coffee shop or at home. No Co-working space can provide all that is required to their members but finding the right alliances who can provide that, would be the best option. It takes away the stress of trying to provide all that members need. Alliances also can help Co-working spaces to create meaningful events and collaborations.

Community Manager
Community Manager is a very key role in a Co-working space. It is very important that you employ the right Community Manager who can understand the aspects of Co-working, be proactive and most importantly be more empathetic towards members. If the Community Manager does not understand their members, trust me, the Co-working space is going to not sustain very long. No matter the pro’s and con’s of Co-working spaces, if the Community Manager cannot bridge members to the Co-working space, it is only a matter of time before the Co-working space loses its value.

Most Co-working space businesses, like any other new business trends enthusiasm, are coming up offering any real estate they have to people who want to find a place to work. However, if you wish to be the best, you will need to focus on what your members want and definitely not what you wish to provide.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/02/12/starting-a-co-workng-space/feed/01126How to select the best idea to pursue?https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/01/19/how-to-select-the-best-idea-to-pursue/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/01/19/how-to-select-the-best-idea-to-pursue/#respondFri, 19 Jan 2018 05:00:02 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1121When I decided to work on my idea, the first thing which came to mind is finances. How am I going to use less money and bring out the best product? The first thing I did is to lay out a 12-month plan. How much can I spend on myself for the next 12 months and what is the buffer I have for building the product?

I debated on 4 ideas.

The first thing I did for the next few months is learning more about the domains. The three domains I was contemplating are HealthTech, Co-Working, and Education. I made mock business presentations, Investor presentations and of course tore many sheets of Business Model Canvas.

All ideas were working out well on the Canvas. The next 4 weeks, I focused on only one idea each week and see how I felt about the idea all through the week. I did not think of anything else during the week. Only the idea which I chose and focused all my energies in talking to people about the idea and noted their reactions. At the end of the week, I wrote down all the thoughts and the gut feeling I had for each of them.

Towards the end of the month, I sat down again and revised my notes and how my heart and body felt reading all my notes.

Somehow, each time I thought of this idea, I never had a negative thought coming back to me. For all the other ideas, I had too many Whys.

As an entrepreneur, when you begin to ideate on your idea, I would highly recommend that you spend as much time as you can thinking of the idea. No one else, except you and only you, can feel the idea running through your body. Let all the feelings – positive and negative come through. Let them pass through your body and mind. They will tell you what you need to do.

And once you decide, give its own gestation time. All you need is the belief in the idea, and be persistent about it.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/01/19/how-to-select-the-best-idea-to-pursue/feed/01121Changing the way we Co-workhttps://www.harinathpv.com/2018/01/12/changing-the-way-we-co-work/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/01/12/changing-the-way-we-co-work/#respondFri, 12 Jan 2018 05:00:03 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1113On 4th Jan 2018, we went live with our product aCubeNow. It is the first of its kind platform for Co-working spaces to Manage Infrastructure, Assets, Event Management, Issue Management and Communicate with their members.

But first, let me take you thru how this journey began.

In 2015, when I started my journey as an entrepreneur, I was working out of a Co-working space. One evening (around 7 PM), I wanted to use a conference room. Since it was late, the Admin had left for the day. Coming from a corporate culture, my fingers automatically went to the directory to find a meeting room (in this case a printed postcard with room listings). 10 minutes after walking into a conference room another team came knocking saying they had blocked it earlier. How did they do it? Apparently, Admin had a book and we were supposed to send an email requesting her to block any room.

A couple of days later, I wanted to print something but the printer was not working. I walked up to the admin to discuss the same. She asked me to send an email copying Community Manager about the issue and they would consider this later.

An upscale Co-working space that hosts people buzzing with futuristic ideas; yet here the administrative tasks were as manual as they can get. This intrigued me. I spoke to the Community Manager inquiring if there are any better ways of dealing with this kind of problems and he said that they were working on it and evaluating co-working ERP platforms which could help better manage the space. Wanting to know more, I went online to research myself and found just a couple of them – Nexedus, CoWork.io etc. I started going into the details of how Co-working spaces manage their space. Since the market is at a very nascent stage and was still evolving, not many options were available. Speaking to the General Manager of the Co-working space, I realized that there are no platforms which can handle automating the Co-working space. This was the genesis of the idea.

Conceptualizing the idea
Being an Entrepreneur Evangelist over the last decade, I wanted to understand the problem and see if this problem really exists and is worth solving. The next couple of months, I met Co-working space owners/Community Managers and understood how they managed things at their end. Most of them had their own ways of addressing their member concerns, mostly manually. Few large organizations have Intranet pages where they can book a meeting room and log any issue they face. Mostly, manual. Before I decided this is a good problem to solve, I wanted to understand the market size, trends and the future of Co-working.

Market Size
The market for Co-working spaces has been growing at an Annual Compounded Growth Rate (ACGR) of 23.8% since 2014. Members are growing at a CAGR of 41%. These are good numbers considering it is just the beginning.

According to real estate firm JLL, Co-Working spaces is only 0.7% of the total office spaces in the US. Small Business Labs predicts that there will be a 77% increase of members for Co-working spaces by 2020.

When you put the Co-working spaces in perspective to India, we have had less than 10 Co-Working spaces before 2014. Today, India boasts of more than 400 Co-working spaces and more than 1000 Co-working spaces by 2020. In the last six months of my personal research and encounters with Co-working space owners and members, the numbers look small and the business models are also evolving constantly.

Designing the Solution
First, I designed questionnaires which got me information of what Co-Working spaces look for when they open to business and members expectations. Then I went to coffee shops where small teams work and asked them why they were not using Co-working spaces and instead of working in a noisy environment. The results from both these approaches have been quite interesting.

What the users were looking for and what the Co-working spaces were providing actually mapped. However, what did not match was how it was being communicated. It appeared they were operating with different words and different scenarios. I compiled my findings and segregated the results based on the commonality.

Using the thinkStrategyframework, I started designing the solution. The thinkStrategyframework helps design solutions keeping the prospective user at the center. This is called the Member Centric Architecture.

The PlatformaCubeNow is a platform for Co-working spaces to engage with their members, provide the ability to instantly book infrastructure, log issues/concerns and to easily find the next engaging events happening around to attend.

For the Co-working space, the aCubeNow platform helps in managing infrastructure, mapping assets to their members, central repository of issue’s and turn-around-time to address them and most of all, making it easy for members to reach out to them when they need.

The iOS/Android mobile apps connect members with the Co-working space. There is no need for the member to get onto a website, log in and then find what they are looking for. Everything is available at their fingertips.

We also wish to connect with non-members to keep them posted on events and happening in the Co-working domain. So, if you are not a Co-working space member, you can still download our app, register and keep track of our news and also find a Co-working space near you in our Directory of our Partners.

If you are a Co-working space, allow us to partner with you to provide a seamless experience for your members. We have the monthly subscription model and our annual partner model. Best of all, we have a 30 day no frills refund policy. If you are not happy, you get a complete refund, but we are sure, if you start using the platform, you would only ask yourself “Why was this not there earlier?”.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2018/01/12/changing-the-way-we-co-work/feed/01113Starting up to Sell (S2S)https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/21/starting-up-to-sell-s2s/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/21/starting-up-to-sell-s2s/#respondMon, 21 Aug 2017 15:36:42 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1108In today’s world, starting a company, finding funding and taking products to market is not tough, but the toughest is to sustain the business. The moment your idea is out in the market, there are a hundred others who will bring similar products with different Business Models. As an Innovator and Entrepreneur, your success depends on how well informed you are about your competition and how deep you understand your product and domain itself.

You notice that big companies buy smaller ones to consolidate and also reduce their competition. This is the law of nature. We need to accept it.

As your startup grows not just in financial value, but in the Value Proposition of the offering and the market capitalization of the product(s)/company is what drives a potential acquisition.

One of my acquaintances was explaining his idea and business to me. It was a tech product and I asked him, where do you see yourself in next 5 years and his response was very clear “Similar kind of company was acquired by XXXX for Rs.XXXX, so, am working to find a buyer and wish to sell”. No harm in this approach, but you need to understand how you build your company to be acquired.

When you start a business wanting to sell it off after a while, the efforts are more arduous.

First, even though it is your idea and you feel this is the best the world can have unless you have convinced your customers/clients there is no value-add. After this, if you are wanting to sell, then you will need to identify the kind of companies who might be interested in acquiring you. After you identify, you will need to understand how you can stand out from the competition so that your potential acquirer looks at you and after they see you, you must present yourself to them (only after their invitation) in such a way that they should be convinced that this is the best product for their portfolio.

Considerations and key metrics for building a Sale Strategy:

Articulate the WWH -If you have watched Simon Sinek’s talk on Start with Why you know what I am talking about. Very clearly articulate What you are developing, Why and How you are going to impact lives. When this clarity in the vision exists, it becomes easy for you to build your value proposition.

Identify a good Value Proposition – The key to a successful company is its value proposition. The value proposition cannot be lame, but a real problem should be solved. For instance, Apple manufactures iPad cases with a keyboard, but if you notice they do not have a button on the keyboard for the function of double-click of home button the iPad, but still they sell more smart cases than the others who do. Logitech, for example, manufactures fantastic keyboards for iPad’s and they have a key for the double-click function. Why do you think Apple is not doing it? It is their product and they wish to sell more of the accessories, but even after these many years and so many people asking for it, they have not incorporated the key in the keyboard. Why? Because Apple’s belief is in simplicity. In order to go to home screen, all you need to do is press command+H, it does the job as the double-click does. And if you want to navigate between apps, use cmd+tab. Simplicity is Apple’s mantra and they will not budge, instead, they will push their consumer to adapt to their way of doing things. When more consumers adapt, it increases their value proposition. Simple.

Build a breathing Business Model – A Business Model is a blueprint of how your idea can solve a problem and how you can make money by solving the problem. What is a breathing Business Model? It is nothing but having an element of adaptability when circumstances change and the tough get going. Consider Google, Apple, Nokia, all major companies which have marked their presence in this world. All these companies were on the brink of collapse at one point of time in their lifetimes and only bold moves helped them recoup and stabilize.

Google never had a business model. They were a loss-making machine not knowing how to bring in revenue with searches. AdWords changes everything for them.

Apple almost collapsed before Steve was called back. It took just a year to conceptualize the iPod, but that changed everything for Apple.

Nokia is more than a 150-year-old Pulp and Paper company, how they adapted to the changing times and build a portfolio of businesses is what made them what they were.

The list can go on, but the most important aspect is that your business model should be able to breathe. Remember, none of the companies which I mentioned above changed their business model but instead diversified into what was valuable at that point in time.

Identify who can acquire you – Based on what you are building, identify who will be the most interested in acquiring you. The list you make might not be interested to buy you at all, but the list will help you understand what these companies look at. For instance, many Health-tech startup’s today look at being acquired one day, because the domain is a lot complicated than you can imagine. How do companies identify potential acquisitions? Apple recently acquired a Hyderabad based Machine Learning Startup. Without going into details (which I am not completely aware of), this shows that Apple is foraying seriously into Artificial Intelligence. Apple also made few AI acquisitions in the recent past. Do we know if the founders were targeting Apple? We don’t know, but this is just an example to understand what companies might look for.

Keep margins high – If you watch Shark Tank, you notice that the Shark’s jump into making deals with entrepreneurs who show higher margin’s for their products. Why? This will enable them to take the risk and also demonstrate you don’t have much competition. If you produce at Rs. 10 and sell at Rs. 12 (because of the competition), then you will really struggle to survive and also this means there is a lot of competition which is making you sell at a marginal profit. It is like earning Rs. 10,000 per month and then having EMI’s worth Rs. 6,000. The math does not match and you cannot sustain for long.

How do you achieve this? You achieve this by having good processes and a solid estimation methodology. This gives your investors a lot of confidence.

If you look at e-commerce companies, this is why they struggle. Even though their valuations are high, get a lot of investment, the only hope is that tomorrow something changes. It is a dangerous way to build a company, but today investors accept it and also you should be lucky to find a good investor.

Yes, all the points which I mentioned above are same for building a company without an acquisition strategy. However, the small caveat is identifying your future and being prepared for it. Honestly, building a company to sell is a bigger task and emotionally draining, because if you are not able to sell, you are stuck and you will be frustrated which will lead to collapse unless you are strong-minded and can take it forward.

In summary, it is double the effort in starting up to sell and hence requires more energies. I call this the S2S (Starting to Sell) Syndrome.

My personal recommendation is that you start with your ideas, look at how the market is responding and after your first-year financial filings, start evaluating how you might want to sell, that is only if you want to.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/21/starting-up-to-sell-s2s/feed/01108Being an Entrepreneur – 1 Year Reviewhttps://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/14/being-an-entrepreneur-1-year-review/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/14/being-an-entrepreneur-1-year-review/#respondMon, 14 Aug 2017 06:54:17 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1101Last year, in August (precisely on the 11 August), I announced to the world, that I am transitioning to be an entrepreneur.

When I started, had a very big idea to build a Strategy Consulting firm focusing on Ideation and Business Model Validation for start-ups.

In the last one year, have done 4 in person sessions, 2 webinars and have been ideating on 3 ideas out of which 1 is development phase, 1 in ideation phase and 1 in the design phase. Well, what has been my learnings in the last 1 year? Here are few of my experiences.

You will feel lonely – Like it or not, if you are coming from the corporate world where you are working in a team, you will feel very lonely to be on your own. Accept the fact you will no longer have people around you to have a chat, share your experiences, catch up for a lunch/coffee or going out on team outings.

During this time, your Facebook timeline will be filled with more travel check-ins and pictures of fun times at work. Read this as a test for your commitment

How I handled it, I reduced my FB time. I only browse through the page once in a day and don’t go back to it. Fortunately, there will be one person in your network who will post a motivational quote and that will help you come back to track.

Self-doubt – You will have this each day. Am I in the correct path, am I doing things right? Should I get back to a job? These questions will come to you each day and especially when you look around and people are busy in their lives and when you have a lot more time to ponder about.

STOP self-doubting. Your heart will tell you if you are in the right direction or not. All you have to do is be conscious of what your heart is telling you. If you are not being comfortable with something, then you need to change something. Think of new ways. There are various tools and techniques on the internet, find something which will help you focus. For instance, I used BusinessModelYou, a toolbox for evaluating yourself.

Days are much longer than you thought – When we are in a job, our outlook calendar drives our day. But, when we are on our own, we drive our calendar. There is a lot of difference in this. In a job, you are driven by what the company needs, but when you are an Entrepreneur, you drive what the company needs.

You will be in control of your day. You plan your meetings and you plan what you will need to accomplish over the course of time. Since the time is in your hands, you will feel that the days are longer than you actually thought.

Health improves – Knowingly or unknowingly we take a lot of stress when we are in a job. There are exceptions, I know people who handle stress amazingly well and never let it affect their health. Being an Entrepreneur it is much more stressful than you ever think – Social pressures, responsibilities at home etc take a toll on you. But, if you leave these aside, then life becomes more beautiful.

Meditate – You must have heard this everywhere, but I will put in a simple line. Don’t get carried away with all the jargons you hear, but just focus on one thing – Sit down for ten minutes each day at a said time and just focus on your breathing. That’s all. The key here is the time, stick to a time schedule. If you want to do at 7 in the morning, ensure each day you automatically sit down at 7 for ten minutes, where ever you are in this world.

Accept and Focus – You will see down times more regularly during the start-up phase. Each day will be a roller coaster. Accept it. It’s ok to feel low and depressed. Watch a cartoon movie or an inspirational movie or speech, it will help you regain your confidence.

Find a life coach – If you need to work on building on your strengths and transform the power of your thoughts to reality and you need a little help, find a Life coach. Remember the movie, Dear Zindagi? How does Alia Bhat find herself? Through her coach Shahrukh. I, fortunately, watched this movie after I took life and professional coaching. It made a lot of sense and in fact, I went back to another coach to help me fine tune my learnings. So, don’t be afraid to ask for help. It will change your life.

PS: If you are reading this post and want to know my experiences, don’t hesitate to shout out to me.

Of all the above, before you embark on your entrepreneurial journey, spend time thinking, find your favorite place – a park, coffee shop, a religious place, an ashram or a relaxing center and just think of what you wish to accomplish. Accomplishment here is not money, Yes, all of us want to be rich, but remember, this is a by-product of what you are going to do. So, don’t focus on money, focus on what you want to change or make an impact or remembered for. This is the key. When you begin, the plan will be labyrinth or you might not see anything for tomorrow. Focus on what you want to accomplish and over a period of time things will start falling in place. All you need is to commit to what you want to accomplish.

If it helps, The arc of ambition will give you a very good sense of direction and motivation. This is my bible.

Good luck, more experiences to come…

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/14/being-an-entrepreneur-1-year-review/feed/01101Being ruthlesshttps://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/07/being-ruthless/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/07/being-ruthless/#respondMon, 07 Aug 2017 09:00:19 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1097If you have watched The House of Cards, you are not new the word ruthless. Being a true leader needs you to be ruthless, ruthlessness to the core in focusing what you want to achieve.

Frank Underwood might be a wrong illustration for depicting this quality in a leader, but surely there are few things we can learn from him – Unmatched devotion to his vision. The vision of being at the center of Power.

All of us love having the power, be it at home, office or in the society. Power gives a sense of satisfaction and ability to shape our surroundings the way we wish to. According to the dictionary, the word ruthless means – showing no pity. This can be read in different ways and all we need to understand is how we can build this quality in us in a positive way.

Building the quality of ruthlessness requires us to work on developing ourselves in various contexts. First, we need to understand the work what we do, second, we need to have a complete understanding of the environment we live in, third, the most important of all, we need to have a very good clarity of what we wish to achieve.

If you look at how FU (these are the alphabets on his cufflinks) operates, he has a complete and deep understanding of how the political parties work and operate. He exactly knows whom he needs to approach for a certain task and how to get through their mind to get his work done. This plays a very important role in building your strength.

While trying to understand the environment we live in, it requires a deep understanding of the work we deliver and how we deliver. This gives the sense of confidence and also allows us to think of various options to get things done identifying the most optimal path.

The third point is where we all get lost and confused. We need to have absolute clarity of what our end goal is, be it power, money, satisfaction or sense of accomplishment. What ever it is, we need to be very clear as to where to get to. Else, the journey is about confusion and chaos. If you look at any successful leader around us, you can clearly identify the clarity in their mind, if you spend some time understanding what they do and how they do.

It is ok to have confusion, most of us cannot identify what we want until we really spend some time in understanding what our strength is. So, as you traverse along, identify where your strength lies, understand the work and environment and be sure to build the right character to reach your goal.

Be ruthless in the right way, and you will reach your destination.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/08/07/being-ruthless/feed/01097the discipline of freedomhttps://www.harinathpv.com/2017/07/31/the-discipline-of-freedom/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/07/31/the-discipline-of-freedom/#respondMon, 31 Jul 2017 09:00:16 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1070We all want freedom. Freedom from rules and regulations, freedom from family, freedom from teachers, freedom from friends, freedom from everything. But what is freedom? Is it only attributed to what and how we want?

Freedom is an attribute of mind. The mind needs to have its control over all what is happening around us and that is what the freedom each of us aspires.

Freedom, when not controlled, is the most dangerous enemy we will have, and that is why Freedom needs discipline. When thoughts are built with discipline, that is when you experience the complete freedom.

The mind and brain even though are interlinked, many times the brain does not follow the instructions of the mind. The mind does not allow you to think objectively, it only sends out emotional thoughts. The brain wants you to get up and run, but your mind refuses to get up (an emotional thought of sleeping for a little more while). It gets caught up in the vicious cycle. It is tempted to do what it is doing (resting, watching TV, reading or writing). How do you overcome this?

About a year ago, I started my journey as an Entrepreneur. Suddenly, I had the feeling of emptiness. There were no more late night calls, no scheduled meetings or travels, no escalations and last but not the least, no being artificial self. Suddenly, I felt I had all the time in my day and my brain was not being occupied. Now, I see the morning sunrise, do not rush to have breakfast and don’t look forward to my coffee break, no lunch meetings, no gossips, no rush hour traffic and finally, not going to bed with all the energy lost, just dreading to wake up in the morning to start the cycle again.

Days and weeks went by, I rested and let my body accept the new changes. Life was good. I now have all day to myself to do what I want to do and what I was wanting to do. For a long time (even now at times) I kept pushing out things in my checklist – I can do it later, I can do it tomorrow etc. As days passed by, I realized that I am being lesser productive than I was earlier. On 1 Jan 2016, I made a resolution that I am going to write a blog post a day for 100 days and voila, I did it. I used to plan my writings, write during the weekends and set the timer to publish automatically each day at a set time. I was using each minute I got productively by focusing on what energizes me to push myself during the office hours. Off late, I realized that now, because my day is not packed, my mind and body were getting off guard. The commitment to get things done has slowed down (I have all the time, right?).

It took a while for me to get back to schedule. Now, I get up in the morning, make a list of things which need to be done for the day and the day goes on by checking off the list. Initially, I used to make a list of things which I need to get done – like respond to the email, complete the presentation, meeting with someone etc. This helped, but the lethargy still exists. Now, I have a list of things which I need to do and I started using an app called Strides on iOS. This is a fantastic app which allows you to make a checklist of your activities which you need to get done each day repetitively. Now, my checklist goes like this – Wake up at 5 AM, Read/Writing time, Meditation time, the list of things which need to be done during the day, Read/Write or Google time. Notice the Google time. I realized that unknowingly I keep spending time on Google searching for something or the other. Now, I avoid going on unnecessary searches, rather I write down what I want to search in a paper and do it during the specific time in the day.

When we have all the time in our hand, we forget how valuable and brutal it is to not be productive, especially when you need to earn your living as an Entrepreneur.

This is the reason I renamed my blog to The Discipline of Freedom because freedom without discipline is like living without breathing.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.

Henry Ford

Times are changing. Even though you have the brightest of the ideas, investors and consumers are looking at the fact that it is not about only solving the problem, but reaching the consumers.

As entrepreneurs, we need to embrace the fact that solving the right problem is just not the only way, but what becomes important is how we message and help our consumers understand the solutions. There are two aspects which we need to consider seriously before embarking on the journey of building solutions – First, we need to understand the view of traditional logic and secondly, we have to employ the view of association theory.

What do these mean?

The view of traditional logic provides us the understanding of the problem and the kind of solutions which have traditionally been accepted by consumers. When you identify the problem, depict how consumers have accepted solutions to similar kind of problems earlier and design the solutions based on the principals of approachability.

Let us look at a simple case study of an online grocery store in India. Traditionally, the way we shopped groceries was to go to a Supermarket or a local vegetable market and purchased our daily needs. Over the period of time, it was acceptable for us to call the local grocery shop and have them deliver to us. As times changed, now, we do not even call the local grocery store, but open a website/app and select all the groceries we need and they get delivered home.

The progression happened step-by-step. First, consumers were accustomed to not requiring to go to the shop to select their goods, and then slowly, consumers have been introduced to the concept of shopping in more than one store and select what they like.

When you are designing a solution, if it is a progressive step to the daily workflow, it becomes easier for consumers to understand and use the solution appropriately.

Look at how banking has changed in India. Initially, it was ATM Cards, then Net Banking and now, API Banking, making it easier to send money by just using a mobile number. The transition was step-by-step.

This does not mean solutions cannot be radical. Few years ago, SpaceX said that they would put people on Mars and asked interested people to sign up and after their selection, they would undergo rigorous training before they are sent to mars. This is radical progression and the company was looking at not many people in their first batch, but a select few. Since the world is definitely made up of early adapters, they got their numbers.

It all depends on how you wish solve a problem and how you want to make your clients utilise your solution. Either make it a progressive approach or a radical one. But, before you begin solving a problem, spend time on understanding the progression of the domain/industry and illustrate to yourself how things have changed over the period of time. This makes it easier for you to design, educate your consumer and implement the solutions.

In view of association theory, what you would understand is the consumer behaviour. You can use various techniques and methodologies to understand this – Consumer interviews, survey’s, having conversations with potential users etc. These methodologies will help you understand what the user is looking forward as a progressive next step. To contradict this, Henry Ford famously said, “If I asked people what they wanted, they would ask for faster horses”. So, we should be very specific in what we are looking for and understand the trends and the industry before we even begin solving the problem.

The objective of this post is to help aspiring innovators/entrepreneurs ideate and provide a framework for the same.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/07/21/thinking-as-a-function/feed/01019Embracing emotionshttps://www.harinathpv.com/2017/06/12/embracing-emotions/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/06/12/embracing-emotions/#respondMon, 12 Jun 2017 04:24:29 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1014Quite often when we speak with our family, friends and colleagues, we hear “Don’t get so emotional” or “Don’t be emotional”.

What is being emotional?
If you search for emotional on google, this is the first result you will get.

Look at the meaning of the word. In all the three meanings, you will see that emotions display your passion, compassion, your inner feeling. Of course, there are other meanings to the word which do not showcase the positivity, like melodramatic, temperamental etc.

I have heard this term quite a few times in my life. Every time I heard this word, it was not sounding right for me. Then, I started researching more on this word.

* Being emotional is a very good trait. However, one should understand the context of the situation where emotions are being displayed. For instance, road rage is an attribute of being emotional, showing your inner feelings of anger and frustration. This is not a positive attribute.
* Visionaries and Leaders are definitely passionate and emotional about what they do and what they believe in. This is a positive attribute.

Now, whenever I hear someone saying that I am being emotional, I take a step back and draw a mental picture of why the person said that and what attribute am I displaying. If it is regarding what I do, what I believe in and what I stand for, then I completely ignore the feedback. This feedback is coming because the other person does not share my passion and he/she is only trying to subdue my conversation by saying this. There is no point in continuing the conversation with the person. I walk away in silence.

The second instance is where we let our ego play. Even though our gut says that we are going wrong somewhere, we try to support ourselves in what we say.

All leaders who have shaped the world have displayed public emotions – From Mahatma Gandhi to Rabindranath Tagore to Steve Jobs to Sir Richard Branson to Bill Gates and the list only continues.

Being emotional is a very strong attribute of being a true leader. However, balancing the act between positive (which comes passion) and negative (which comes with ego) emotions strengthens the personality of the leader.

]]>https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/06/12/embracing-emotions/feed/01014Empathy – Selling from your hearthttps://www.harinathpv.com/2017/06/08/empathy-selling-from-your-heart/
https://www.harinathpv.com/2017/06/08/empathy-selling-from-your-heart/#respondThu, 08 Jun 2017 03:32:10 +0000http://www.harinathpv.com/?p=1008We as human’s need empathy at every phase of our life. When we conceptualize our idea, believing in it and embarking on the journey is the first step, but the most important aspect is to understand the end user of our product/service/offering. Empathy is the one single key attribute of sales which makes or breaks the idea. If we do not understand the viewpoint of our end user, all our efforts go in vein.

My classic example is how the premium brands treat their consumers when compared to regular shops. Walk into any premium brand showroom and even though you might not be a hot customer, they treat you with a lot of empathy. They understand your needs and help you make a decision.

Once, I walked into a luxury car showroom with a friend. He was seriously considering it and since I am an automobile enthusiast, he asked me to join him. We entered and we were greeted well by the reception. My friend told the reception what he was looking for and the next 30 minutes went by walking us through all the offerings they have. As we were being guided around, I was looking at their products and had quite a few questions for them. At one point, I was mentioning the sales person how I saw one of their advertisements long ago and how much I admired the capabilities of one of their product. He insisted that I drove that car. I mentioned very clearly that whatever I do, I cannot afford that car in the near future and he is wasting his time walking me through the details of the car. What he mentioned left a lasting impression on me “Sir, you love this car and you might not be buying it today, but am sure, very soon you will come to drive home one of these”. My day was made. It was not anything else, but what the sales guy said made me feel very good and gave me a feeling of hope that one day, I would definitely buy it. He need not say that or make me feel good for two reasons – I was not considering to buy anything that day (It was my friend) and second, he need not spend the time to share details with me. But, still, he did.

As an entrepreneur, we should constantly practice empathy. Because, only when we make our clients feel good, will we stand a chance to be successful and win the confidence of our client.